Fortune Celebrates its 40 Under 40 at Airbnb

October 15, 2013

Leigh Gallagher, Henrique deCastro, Marissa Mayer

Fortune’s Leigh Gallagher with Yahoo! COO Henrique deCastro and CEO Marissa Mayer

The most influential business leader in the world under 40 is Marissa Mayer, according to Fortune Magazine, which has placed her at the top of their annual list of the 40 most influential executives under the age of 40.

“This is the first time that a woman is number one on the list,” according to Leigh Gallagher, Fortune’s assistant managing editor.

“Marissa Mayer took over as President and CEO in July of 2012, and she has really transformed the company. This has been her year,” she said. “She’s made 22 acquisitions, the stock is up more than 80 percent, the employees are rallied, she’s really brought this company together. And this is still a work in progress.”

Nextdoor co-founder Sarah Leary, Marissa Mayer, 270 Strategies founder Jeremy Bird (Fortune #27)

Patricia Moll Kriese, Trevor Traina, Marissa Mayer
Match.com CEO Sam Yagan (Fortune #22), Zachary Bogue

Fortune’s managing editor Andy Serwer recently hosted a party, catered by Taste, at the headquarters of Airbnb in San Francisco to celebrate the magazine’s “40 Under 40” list, which was attended by many of the people on the list, as well as Tyra Banks, who has been on Fortune’s list of “Most Powerful Women.”

Tyra was absolutely delightful, chatting warmly with guests, but unfortunately was a bit camera shy, so I can’t show you what she looked like. Trust me, though, she looked like a supermodel!

Jessica Silverman, Travis Kalanick, Meredith Darrow, Allison Speer

Jessica Silverman, Travis Kalanick (Fortune #13), Meredith Darrow, Allison Speer

I was especially excited to chat with Uber co-founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick, who was much more charming than his bad-boy reputation would suggest. In a town that’s gone crazy for Uber, Kalanick has become a sort of idol, as was apparent by the way guests gushed about their positive experiences using the service.

He shared with me that in the last month the company has seen tremendous growth in Paris, where it uniquely offers the UberMoto — motorcycle taxis! Yet another reason why Paris is the world’s greatest city next to our own.

Ben Silbermann, Nathan Blecharczyk, Joe Gebbia, Leigh Gallagher

Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann (Fortune #11), Airbnb’s Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia (Fortune #6), Leigh Gallagher

I was also delighted to meet Airbnb co-founder Nate Blecharczyk, who certainly disproves any stereotype about engineers not having style. Meticulously dressed in a slim-fitting suit, Airbnb’s charming CTO belongs at the top of the next list of Silicon Valley’s “best dressed.” Perhaps it’s not a surprise, then, that the company has named Chip Conley as head of global hospitality, responsible for setting some standards for Airbnb’s hosts around the world — it shows that they’re not just thinking about renting rooms, they’re thinking about creating a memorable experience, and style is part of that.

Nathan Blecharczyk – Box CEO Aaron Levie (Fortune #14), Joelle Emerson

It’s important to have a sense of style to run a successful consumer-facing company today. Think of Apple, which has recently hired former CEO’s of both Burberry and Yves Saint Laurent. Think of Marissa Mayer at Yahoo, Jeremy Stoppelman at Yelp, Jack Dorsey at Square and Twitter. None of these people are ruled by fashion, but style is important to them — and I think it extends from the way they present themselves to the way they present their companies and think about their customers.

As for Dorsey, why is he on Fortune’s cover and not Mayer? “We put her on the cover last year, so we don’t like to repeat it,” Leigh Gallagher recently explained. “Our cover is Jack Dorsey, who is one of the founders of Twitter. And we just thought that it was a really timely cover choice because Twitter is going public.”

Aaron Levie, Keith Rabois

MG Siegler, Megan Quinn – Kara Swisher, Kim Rubey

But while the Fortune list is tech-heavy, especially at the top, not everyone on the list is in Silicon Valley. “So, for example, one of the people on the list is Chris Weideman, who is Jack Lew’s chief of staff,” said Gallagher. “That’s not a name anybody knows, but he’s tremendously influential in Washington and the Treasury.”

Others include Claudia Sender, who is running Brazil’s largest airline, John Elkann, in charge of the Fiat empire, and Alli Webb, founder of the Drybar blow-dry salons.

Adam Cahan, Nick D'Aloisio, Trevor Traina

Yahoo’s Adam Cahan and Nick D’Aloisio with Trevor Traina

One guest who isn’t on the list now, but is bound to be in the future, is Nick D’Aloisio. Famous for selling his company, Summly, to Yahoo earlier this year for a reported $30 million, the 17 year old now splits his time between London and the Bay Area as he works on developing and improving Yahoo’s mobile products. With a quick wit, scintillating mind and charming personality, he’s the future of tech — and with more like him out there, Fortune may have to create a new list, the “20 under 20”!

To see Fortune’s complete list for 2013, visit money.cnn.com